Driving from UK to Kalkan

[clarel]

  Has anyone driven from the UK to Kalkan, and if so, what route, how many days, and generally how did it go? thanks

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=3766.0

[Lantana]

There are a number of different options for a route to Turkey.  From the UK, You need to aim for northern Italy. You can  then either go the rest of the way overland, travelling through Bosnia, Croatia etc or do as we do, take a ferry.  There are 4 different embarkation points which we know of, there may be more, Venice, Ancona, Brindisi and Bari.

The Ferry crossing takes about 36 hours from say Brindisi or two days from Venice. You are aiming for Igoumenitsa in western Greece or Patras.   Book a sleeper cabin on the ferry. See this link for info
http://www.greece-ferries.com/?gclid=CMiX17HZtJsCFYUA4wodPz5xPA  The longer the ferry journey the shorter the travelling time.

From either of these points you drive to  Thessaloniki and then on to Istanbul and then from Istanbul, choose your route down here. The journey time from Istanbul to Kalkan is about 12 hours.

In general the roads are good with much of it motorway. If you are prepared to be flexible, there is no need to book accommodation in advance, there is a wide choice.

We allow 5 days for the journey - we drive fast but don''t usually travel after dark - too much risk of accident in rural areas.

As you are entirely driving through EU countries if you take the ferry route, there is no need for visas but you will need appropriate car papers and insurance. Once you and your car are in Turkey you can keep your car here for six months - if you want to keep it here permanently, you have to pay a heavy bond to the government - we paid over £5,000.

Lantana

[Brooksie]

Lantana
Is the bond non returnable?

[Lantana]

The bond is returned (without interest) if you take your car out of Turkey permanently. Without doubt, getting our car registered here was the most complicated bureaucratic process we have ever experienced. It took three trips to Antalya, each of 3 days duration.  We required 15 separate official documents. On top of the bond there are numerous other legal fees which are not refundable - probably close to 1000 euros in total

The six month rule is quite strict, you can bring your car to Turkey  for a maximum of six months within any 12-month period. This means, after a term of exactly 180 days the vehicle must leave Turkey and cannot be brought back in for six months.

 You can do this twice. You cannot bring the vehicle in for a third six-month period. In addition, the imported car cannot be sold, lent or rented to anyone else in Turkey, and only officially registered persons (limited by law to the owner and his immediate family members) are allowed to drive it.  If anyone else drives it and is caught, the car is permanently confiscated.  This happened recently to a friend of ours and she has lost her car and been heavily fined because a Turkish friend of hers was stopped whilst driving it.

Unless your car is so specialised that you could not replace it here or it has great sentimental value, it is probably not worth even considering importing a car permanently. We only did it because our car was already here, it was a diplomatic import purchased whilst we were working here and then it had to be converted to a normal import.

Lantana

[clarel]

Thanks very much Lantana, really appreciate this information. 

[kevincat99]

Apparently if you bring a car in and you are on a three month Tourist Visa - the car details will be stamped on your passport.
Therefore if you want to stay longer than the three months and need a new Tourist Visa you will have to take the car out of Turkey with you - or put it in a Customs compound in Antalya docks or at Dalaman airport - then go and get a new Visa and then reclaim the car
Bit of a performance or what ??